Sport, travel and general merchandise stores commonly sell articles for holding water and hydrating fluids for use during a variety of activities to enable the user to keep one's body healthfully hydrated, ward off thirst and improve sports performance. These fluid carrying articles are used for, and during, activities from leisurely walking and everyday use to hiking and more endurance sports or activities such as running, in-line skating, triathlons and adventure racing. These articles, depending on their configuration, provide varying levels of comfort and convenience relative to the intended activity and unique/varying activity variables.
Originally, day hikers used small to large, frame-less and internal/external frame, backpacks with shoulder straps, to carry bottles of water or other containers for holding fluids in a hands-free fashion. With the increased popularity of running and fitness, waist water carriers with fabric/foam-type holsters have become popular with the need for people to carry primarily just water and basic minimal essentials. There are many variations of belts and waist packs made for carrying fluid containers readily available as well as bladder-style packs and belts. Also there are add on fabric/foam style holsters which slide on a belt with a belt loop so you can add fluid containers to an existing belt. Additionally, hand carrying a water bottle with a hand strap or just by itself is also a popular alternative to a waist pack for some people.
Although there are many solutions for carrying hydrating fluids, they suffer from drawbacks of one sort or another. Waist bottle packs with fabric, elastic and/or foam holsters in some cases have the bottle holster fixed/sewn on the belt so that the user has little ability to customize the belt and bottle position for their own particular needs. Usually the only adjustments are sizing of the belt and in order to adjust the position of the bottle or bottles on the belt the user has to rotate the whole belt around on the waist which can be a problem if a buckle or some other feature of the belt/pack ends up in an uncomfortable or unfavorable position on the user. For a bottle pack with more than one holster, moving holster positions relative to each other around the belt so that the bottle position is specific to the fit/use requirements of the user is not possible because these holsters are generally sewn in place on the waist belt. Also the fabric, foam, elastic, etc associated with creating the holster itself and integrating it into the belt/pack in a way that is comfortable for the wearer in highly active conditions can be a source of significant unwanted weight.
Add-on holsters are usually made of the same or similar material (fabric, foam, elastic, etc.) as the above mentioned bottle pack holsters in a similar manner although a belt loop or loops are provided for threading the holster onto a separate belt. As with the above mentioned bottle pack holsters the fabric, foam, elastic, etc associated with creating the holster and belt loop panel can be a source of significant unwanted weight. Also the add-on holsters generally do not integrate well with a belt itself and tend to slide, bounce and chafe.
Although bladder packs have become smaller in size than those initially available, they are still not optimal, especially for running and sports which cause the user's body to undergo jostling or up and down movement due to discomfort associated with the size of the pack, larger sweat trapping area, chafing of shoulder/waist straps, and the inconvenience for such sports as running to drink/draw water from the tube and difficulty with filling and keeping the bladder and tubing hygienic. Some bladder/built-in reservoir packs have eliminated the drinking tube altogether, but are not practical for accessing the contained fluids on-the-go because the whole belt has to be removed/unbuckled to drink from them.
Many active people completely forgo using one of the above mentioned carriers in favor of hand carrying fluid in a bottle with or without a hand strap. But, hand carrying water can be tiring on the hand and back, and cause hand cramping and generally may hinder competitive performance levels over longer periods of strenuous activity.
In addition, the above fluid carrying methods/products heretofore known, suffer from drawbacks and disadvantages in combinations in the following areas:
cause user discomfort through bouncing and chafing;
lack optimal ergonomics and contouring relative to the human body;
incorporate complex use requirements or components;
difficulty in accessing and replacement of bottle/container while in use;
unreliable retainment or security of bottle in holster (falls out);
require additional mechanism or extra user step to secure bottle fully in holster;
limited bottle security for a wide range of conditions;
lack optimum physics of carrying mass/fluid on the human body;
employ features which present obstacles to optimal athletic or general performance;
limited versatility for range of uses and range of users;
difficult to use and/or inconvenient to use;
difficult to clean and maintain hygienically;
poorly integrated features; and
asymmetrically weighted when in use.
A need has arisen, therefore, for a comfortable, lightweight, easy access, user configurable/adjustable, convenient, versatile, and hygienic device for carrying a container of fluids, or receptacle for containing other items or substances, on one's person or personal item as well as carrying personal items/electronics/essentials in a comfortable, versatile bounce-free manner.
There has now been developed, and disclosed herein a new and novel bottle and device which has a number of advantages not possessed by the products of this type known to heretofore be available. A retaining device adapted for holding a bottle, container (or containers), the retaining device being adapted to affix the container by way of the retaining device to a person or a personal item so ready access is provided for the held container/item embodying the principals of the invention has a foundation/retaining device portion with means of retaining a bottle or container portion; a means of attaching the foundation/retaining device portion onto a user's body or other article or being; and a bottle, container or fluid carrying portion. A bottle embodying the principles of the invention has means for being retained in the retaining device as will be disclosed. Also disclosed and discussed there are a number of desirable optional features of the novel invention which can be used with in combination with the disclosed retaining device and associated container or the like, or alone the features in combinations together, alone, etc. incorporated into belts packs, bags, personal, item carriers/holders, military items or the like. Some of these optional disclosed features/elements include: a system/way of constructing a belt portion with stretch-limiting, bounce limiting means, a belt, strap or the like with an interchangeable closure element that can incorporated a pocket or the pocket can be alone incorporated into a belt, strap or the like. Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
the system can be fabricated in a manner that is lightweight and durable;
can be configured in a way that maximizes comfort and eliminates bouncing and chafing;
can be user configured to fit a variety of use requirements and body types;
can be manufactured simply and inexpensively;
easy to access and replace the bottle/container while in motion/use;
reliable retainment or security of bottle/container;
versatile to affix to many different personal or other items for a wide range of uses and users;
simple to use; and
easy to clean and maintain hygienically.